Today the hearts of many in our country, and around the world, are heavy in response to the election results.

There are feelings of grief and loss, anger and betrayal, among others, are only natural. These feelings after all reflect the extent and depth to which many on the left care about continued progress, in terms of granting every citizen -- and not just a select few -- the right and freedom to enjoy a living wage, clean air, water and food, and most of all to...

Once you accept that you’re entangled in a love relationship with a narcissist, you have a key decision to make, either to: remain in the relationship for now, or leave. Or perhaps you've already left, yet keep getting entangled in the narcissist's hoovering tactics.

In either case, give yourself time to cultivate a new understanding of how different the narcissist's worldview is from yours, to identify and avoid the mind game traps they set, and in general, to practice new...

The overall tendencies for women and men in couple relationships toward some degree of codependency and narcissism respectively, may best be understood looking through the lens of socially approved gender roles. As mentioned in Part 1, narcissism is both a destabilizing mindset, and an addictive relating pattern. In the meantime, a codependent's overzealous attempts to please and appease the narcissist are also destabilizing and addictive.

Perhaps the key difference overall lies in what they each hope to accomplish...

Narcissism and codependency are highly addictive relating patterns that keep both partners off balance. That's because they are driven by toxic thinking patterns, or mindsets, which spawn survival-love fears, illusions of power, limiting views of love, and unrealistic expectations for what it means to be human, male or female.

To the extent one partner is off-balance, lost in their own fear-based mindsets and illusions, the other is thrown off, and both get locked into an inevitable dance that keeps them...

Continuing from Part 1, here are four more key questions that invite couples to deepen their relationship and conversations. The questions were adapted from an article by inspirational poet, David Whyte, titled 10 Questions That Have No Right to Go Away.

The four questions are as follows:
4. Do I know how to be present in the moment, yet also remain connected to what I've learned from past experiences ... as...

An inspiring poet and lecturer in areas, among others, of psychology and business leadership, David Whyte notes in his article, 10 Questions, that certain questions, the ones that have to do with the person we are becoming, should be held dear to our heart, as much or more than good answers.

Why? Because questions guide the internal conversations we have with ourselves, and others, and thus not only shape our identity, but also our behavior patterns...

It's only natural, after experiencing a relationship with a narcissist, to want to avoid another.

So what best guarantees a relationship will not turn into a dance of codependency and narcissism?

In part, success has to do with identifying certain red flags that help you understand what narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is, a few secret insights into a narcissist's worldview, and what codependency traits unwittingly supply energy to narcissism.

What best repels another dance with narcissism, however, has to do with developing and healing yourself, and...

There's an elephant in the room of our conversations on codependency and narcissism, and pretending the elephant is not there has proven costly to our health and wellbeing as individuals, and thus also to the couple and family relationships, even the communities and societies we form.

The costs are high because, as human beings, our biological needs far extend mere physical needs to survive! Indeed, we are wired with core social yearnings, needs not wants, to matter in meaningful ways to life in and...

On the surface the dance of narcissism and codependency seems to be between two complete opposites; and, in many ways, they are. To see what's really happening in a couple relationship with these dynamics, however, it helps to look at 10 similar yet distinct patterns in their dance steps.

An awareness of these patterns gives us a glimpse of what is really going on to keep both addicted, and stuck repeating the same old dance...